Plans for the gathering being called in Salo were confirmed by the shop steward at Nokia's product development unit, Aimo Leskelä, who however denied any knowledge about what is to be announced.

"There are two alternatives, either good news or bad news," Leskelä told Yle.

The chair of the Pro trade union, Antti Rinne, told Yle that "something bad is happening."

The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that employees at all of Nokia's units in Finland have been called to attend information sessions by management. According to the paper, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will be making a statement Thursday at the company's headquarters in Espoo that will be relayed by video link to Salo, Tampere and Oulu.

The chief shop steward for white collar staff at Nokia's Tampere facilities, Jarmo Talvitie, told Yle that he believes that the gathering in Salo will be either about future cost savings measures at the plant, or about the strategy for the development of Nokia's windows-based phones. He does not, however, expect an announcement of job cuts.

"There have been all kinds of speculation. There are rumours of Nokia being sold, of significant savings measures and of the shutdown of the whole Salo plant. Tomorrow [Thursday] we will be wiser," said Talvitie.

Tampere's mayor, Timo P. Nieminen, told Yle Wednesday evening that he had not been contacted by anyone at Nokia.

"Generally, Nokia has been very good about telling us in advance about any bad job cuts, but I haven't heard anything," Nieminen stated.

In February, Nokia announced it was reducing personnel at its plant in Salo by one thousand. At that time the plant employed 1700 people. The company has a total of 2500 staff in Salo.

The news of the planned management information session in Salo was first reported by Salon Seudun Sanomat which wrote that the invitation also includes personnel working in product development.

Yle will livestream Nokia's press conference on TV1 and Areena starting at 1pm.